68 



health}^ ones. It is no new pest in Great Britain, for in the neigh- 

 Iwrhood of Maidstone, Kent, it was noticed more than sixty 3 ears ago. 

 It did a good deal of damage in Scotland in iS-tl) and 1850. The first 

 record 1 know is that which appeared in the Gardener's Chronicle in 

 1869. Bnshes that nvo attacked can easily be told T)v the large swollen 

 buds; some of these will be seen dead and ))rown on an invaded bush; 

 others green yet unopened; others may })urst and give out leaves. 

 Fruit buds mainly seem to be attacked, and a bush so infested seldom 

 bears any currants. Mr. E. J. Lewis, the chief authority on this pest 

 in Europe, has, however, observed that now and then diseased buds 

 may burst and l)ear fruit, but such is xcry unusual. A bush may have 

 a few or all the buds swollen according to the degree of attack. 

 Infestation seems to begin at any spot; sometimes it shows tirst at the 

 terminal buds; at others half way up, but most occur at the base of 

 the shoots. The difi'erence between normal and diseased buds is very 

 marked when they are compared; normal buds are conical, whilst 

 infested ones are more or less globular and have a somewhat mealy 

 appearance, and on being opened the}' are of an unhealthy and pale 

 color, and the mites may be easily seen within with a lens. Hundreds 

 of mites occur in each infested bud, and among them their gray eggs 

 and the young acari. 



LIFE-HISTORY OF THE MITE. 



The ErmpJiyes rihis \i\iQn mature reach. 0.23 mm. in length; they 

 are narrow and elongated and somewhat cylindrical, usually curved, 

 and var}^ in color from dull shiny white to pale creamy yellow. Now 

 and again specimens may be seen with a green dorsal line, due to the 

 chloroph}^ they have eaten showing through the integuments. The 

 skin is marked with transverse rings, 00 to 70 in number, each having 

 a band of round processes. On the body are live pairs of bristles 

 disposed as follows: The first on the ventral surface midway between 

 the legs and the second pair of bristles; the second much longer and 

 placed just before the middle of the body; the third pair very short 

 and placed more ventrall}'; toward the apex another rather longer 

 pair, also ventral; the fifth pair are lateral on the apical segment and 

 are the longest. The legs, as in all the Phytoptida; are four in num- 

 ber placed on the anterior moiety of the bodv. The basal joint is 

 small, the second has a small bristle, the third has a long one on the 

 upper side, another is present on the upper side of the fourth, and two 

 on the terminal segment, the longer on the outer side near the base; 

 this last joint ends in a lateral curved, long, blunt claw and a terminal 

 bristle with five lateral processes on each side of it. 



The mites live and breed in the buds all the year. The male is 

 smaller than the female. The eggs are large, shiny or glassy bodies, 

 varving in color from white to pallid green. The latter color is given 



